Your characters must be active, not passive. This is a cardinal rule of writing fiction. I really liked the simple advice that the hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast (episode 13.2) gave (listen here). I’ll summarize and expand, but essentially have your characters: Desire – They must want something. Plan – They must make plans…
On Writing
A collection of lessons, tools, and techniques on writing.
The 5-Minute History of Young Adult Fiction
The Great American Read’s short summary of the evolution of YA fiction is really fascinating. As a form of art, it is a relatively new phenomenon in literature. It is only in the last fifty years that a distinction started to be made between books for adults and books for young adults. Then, the Harry…
Bridge to Terabithia (A Book Review for Writers)
Here are four writing lessons I took away from the bestselling children’s novel, Bridge to Terabithia: Give your characters an immediate motivation. We know what the main character wants on page 1. This is a perfect example of Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to give characters an immediate motivation no matter how insignificant it is. Jesse wants…
Learn to Write Well by Reading A Lot
Second, you must read, and read a lot. Did I say A LOT? I read over a hundred books a year and have done so since I was fifteen years old, and every book I’ve read has taught me something. I’ve learned that some authors are incredible at building suspense (see The Firm by John Grisham), I’ve…
Prolific is Better than Perfect
I am so grateful for Benjamin Hardy’s article about his new culture wall, which Gaping Void created for him. Number 14 in his list of pictures is by far my favorite. It summarizes exactly my philosophy when it comes to making it as an artist and an author: “It’s better to be prolific than perfect.” — Joe…
